Cooperation, Competition and Social Marketing Cooperation, Competition and Social Marketing -1- the Growth of Social Marketing Organizations

INTRODUCTION As this year's ISM conference has made clear, alliances between social and commercial marketers – such as CARE's links with Starbucks Coffee, and the Nature Conservancy's work with Georgia-Pacific – have captured the attention and imagination of our field. This is both good and necessary, since such partnerships have the potential to deliver previously unexploited synergies and a wide range of benefits. Properly managed, they can allow social marketers to achieve far more than by acting alone, and we are wise to pay them careful attention. There is, however, a second important trend whose influence on social marketing is increasing, and which also demands consideration: That of competition. At first glance, mention of competition and social marketing in the same breath seems a contradiction in terms. After all, social marketers are all in the business of doing good, and where is the competition in that? This question enjoys a certain philosophical truth, but fails to reflect the realities of social marketing practice. Consider that a wide variety of programs exists to support troubled youth; dozens of advertising campaigns have been launched to promote healthy living; and pro-choice groups debate their right-to-life counterparts on a daily basis. Different social marketing organizations have different priorities and approaches and, with growing frequency, this is leading to conflict. Competition exists in the real world, and its impact needs to be understood. Our focus in this paper is on social marketing by nonprofit organizations – in part because this is where the notion of competition is most novel. We offer examples from a broad range of nonprofit settings, and reflect on both the causes and the effects of competition. We also provide empirical findings on the perceptions of managers regarding competitive issues, and present some suggestions for future research. Debates on issues such as which activities constitute " social marketing " are beyond the scope of this paper. What, then, are the consequences of competition? Among other things, it can produce innovation and efficiency, as the private sector experience has shown. On the other hand, these WEINBERG & RITCHIE-2-benefits may come at the expense of traditional advantages produced by cooperation. Since social marketers enjoy an unusual freedom to be both cooperative and competitive (Gallagher & Weinberg 1991), the challenge is to manage both effectively in one's interactions with others. The past few decades have produced significant increases in both the frequency and intensity of …